Another Birthday
by TheWordFountain
Summary: Helena flipped through the pages until she got a third of the way through, and then picked up a pencil and wrote in a small scribble. "1,016/1,000."


_Disclaimer: I don't own canon Harry Potter. I merely write Harry Potter fanfiction for enjoyment._

Another Birthday

The small black-haired girl closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She was in a small room, standing on a chair, with a teeny cake covered with six wax candles in front of her. Today was her sixth birthday and it was the second time that she was making this wish.

_I wish that Mummy would get her dream come true._

The girl quickly opened her dark eyes to reveal a young, black-haired woman - her mother - sitting on the other side of the cake, leaning over pieces of parchment with drawings, graphs and calculations that were barely understandable.

She blew at the candles as hard as she could and even when there was no more breath in her lungs, she still continued, spit flying from her mouth and dousing them.

The girl smiled triumphantly. "Look, Mummy! I blew out all the candles!"

Her mother looked up quickly and muttered, "Yes, that is great, Helena. Mummy is working."

Helena's face fell as she felt a stab at her heart. Mummy was working. That was such a well-known phrase.

A loud thumping began echoing through the house and Helena jumped down from her chair and tripped on her dress, falling on her knees. They stung badly now, the wood floor beneath her was not very smooth.

Helena took a glance up at her mother to see if she would help, but she was not fazed in the least bit. She continued to pour over her pages of castles and lists.

The thumping began again and Helena pulled herself back up, feeling sharp pains in her knees. She probably had splinters now. When she reached the front door, Helena stood on her tippy-toes and reached as far up as she could to get the doorknob. She missed and then tried again, finally managing to open the door. A loud sound of jeers and rude words hit her ears as she saw a few people, even some children, standing at her front door with tomatoes.

Helena glanced at the door and saw that there was a large amount of food sliding down it. She tried to close the door quickly, but a small kid threw a tomato at her, causing a large amount of more food and objects to hit her. She fell back onto her bottom, and heard a loud tearing sound. Her brand new dress that she had gotten for her birthday, ruined.

She could feel tears welling up in her eyes and a lump form in her throat as she began crawling towards the door. Helena pushed with her back as she hid behind the door and closed it, hearing a loud, satisfactory click.

Why? Why did this happen so often? Was it really so wrong that her mum had her? Was she that bad of a child?

Helena began staring darkly at a painting mounted on the wall opposite her. She would not cry. _She would not cry._

The painting in front of her flew off the wall abruptly and began ricocheting off the corridor walls on her left, but Helena did not flinch or jump. She only continued to stare at the painting in anger and then when she began to feel bored she jerked her eyes away from the painting and a loud crash ensued. It had probably fallen on the floor.

She stood up and walked towards the kitchen, her mother was still working. "Mommy!" she pouted.

"What?" her mother snapped as she laid her eyes upon her daughter covered in dirt. She sighed. "What did you do? Never mind. I do not want to hear it. Go clean yourself up. Sir Godric and the others are coming soon, and you must look presentable."

Helena opened her mouth to protest, but her mum looked back at her papers. Helena huffed as she walked down the small, dark hallway to her room. Why was her mum so blind?

She walked in and closed the door behind her as she searched through her few dresses. She would wear the dark green one. Helena set it softly on her bed and then a loud bang sounded. She jumped, thinking that it might be another mob, but then realized it was probably the people her mum was expecting.

"Helena, get the door!" she heard.

Helena ran a hand through her hair, and looked down at her dress. She could not get the door and greet their guests in such a gross fashion, but her mum would be terribly mad at her if she took her bath and changed first. She hopped from foot to foot in indecision, but then forced herself to run towards the front door and hurriedly open it.

The tall red-headed man at the door had a finger in his mouth, as if he had just finished eating something, and was staring around the foyer as if expecting someone.

"Down here, Sir Godric," Helena whispered.

He jumped back in surprised and gave a jubilant smile. "Helena! How are you, darling?" He bent down and scooped her up in his arms. "By the way, the tomatoes on your door are very tasty!"

Helena giggled as she hugged him around the neck. "It is my birthday today!"

"What? How old are you?" He put her on the floor and his eyes widened in surprise. "Oh dear. What happened to you?"

Helena looked down at her dress and then flinched. She turned her head towards the corner of the room and ignored Sir Godric's gaze, along with Lady Helga and Sir Salazar's – who had both just appeared.

Lady Helga leaned down next to Helena and pulled a green leaf out of her hair. "How about we go get you cleaned up, yes?" she asked sweetly.

Helena nodded as she felt the lump rise up. She threw her arms around Helga's neck and began crying as she felt herself get lifted into the air and carried away.

_Maybe she would cry just this one time._

Lady Helena sighed as she glared at the room around her. It was almost exactly like the Ravenclaw Tower. The same colors, blue and bronze, and desks with parchment that had graphs, lists, drawings of castles, and calculations that she still did not understand were all over and piled high. There was a tall, long bookshelf that took up one whole wall and on the opposite side of the room where the whole wall was made of glass, there were two couches that were cushiony and perfect for reading.

No one knew about this room. This room had been a secret from its very beginning and no student had ever stumbled upon it. Helena made her way over to the giant bookshelf and took the book at the very end of the row. She flipped through the pages, until she got a third of the way through, and then picked up a pencil and wrote in a small scribble. "1,016/1,000."

Helena slammed the book closed and threw it back on the bookshelf. She made her way over to the opposite end of the room and looked out of the giant window at all the witches and wizards talking and laughing together lively.

_Her mum had created her dream: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry._

She raised a shaking hand to her face.

One thousand and sixteen birthdays and one thousand Deathday birthdays.

A few ghostly tears began running their way down her face.

_Maybe she would cry for just one more time._

A/N: This was written for the Magic Birthdays Challenge at the Reviews Lounge. It is actually chapter twenty-one of "The Magic of Birthdays" which is a compilation of all responses to the challenge under the Reviews Lounge profile. The link to the profile and all else associated with the Reviews Lounge is on _my _profile. Go check it out!

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this - I'd love to hear your thoughts!


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